if confirmed he will replace senator ray lahood. this comes at a time when members of the president's own party have criticized him for what they say is a lack of diversity. mayor foxx is an attorney whose work in the federal government. he was first elected mayor in 2009. he turns 42 tomorrow. this is a heck of a birthday present. the "new york times" says foxx was raised by a single mom and his grandparents. peter alexander joins us live with more. >> we will be seeing anthony foxx joining the president inside the white house for this announcement to be made today. this is significant for a variety of reasons not the least of which is that this is an

african-american man. it was a couple of days ago that the headliner at the white house correspondence dinner saying your hair is so white it may as well have been a member of your cabinet. foxx has a relationship to the president and this white house. she was turning 42 tomorrow. he was the first democratic mayor in charlotte in 22 years. we had questions about whether there might be other announcements being made today. other cabinet positions include commerce secretary and trade representative. we asked that question a few minutes ago and he said i have no further announcements to give you meaning i have nothing on that for you. if there are others it would be a surprise to us today. >> you mentioned conan o'brien's

joke. a far greater voice is the congressional black caucus wrote a letter to the president about the diversity of the cabinet and said the people have hardly been reflected in the diversity of the country. we just saw the numbers out for the number of african-americans who turned out to vote. this question of diversity was not just about race but regarding gender. >> reporter: i think that is true. and we pose this question to jay carney as well if the president believes the addition of anthony foxx helps round out a cabinet that he thinks is representative of america. it allows for a lot of input for a variety of input on all decisions that the president makes that allows him to be best informed for decisions.

race aside this new department of transportation nominee is going to have significant challenges ahead of him, not the least of which is the air traffic control furloughs that has been alleviated. that was clearly a hot topic. and the 787 dream liner proves challenges for the transportation department. he comes in with a full plate and will upon his confirmation have a lot that he has to get to pretty quickly. >> as peter mentioned we are waiting for official word that president obama has signed the bill designed to end the flight delays caused by sequester furloughs. airports resumed normal operations as of late last night even though a cler error has delayed. the debate continues to rage about why congress and the white house are not moving to help

others hurt by the sequester. >> there is something else that can be done people might ask. >> they might and it would be your job and our job to explain to them that this was written in a way to make it impossible to do that unless you eliminate the sequester. >> joining me now democratic strategist thank you for joining us. i'll start off with you. there has been criticism on both sides. the white house has said this is not the step it wanted to take as far as what is being seen as a peace meal of the budget that they wanted to look at all issues. you have head start and meals on wheels taking a beating from what is happening here, not just air travellers. >> that is what you heard reflected. i think the complaint you are hearing and not just from the white house but from liberals is that under represented the poor,

children, elderly are not able to come and complain about the parts of the sequester that hurt them. it is business travellers, the affluent and people who travel and had flights delayed. it effected lawmaker s all acrs the country so they can agree to amend it in a way that they wouldn't necessary for some of the programs that represent fewer people and not in the same bipartisan way. that the complaint you have heard from the white house. that is not the way they expected the sequester to unfold. >> some headlines are that the democrats have caved despite the fact the white house said this is not what it wanted to see happen. people say the stink gets on you. you may not be the person that did it but it can get on you. this is stinking all of washington again. people at home are watching them not do their jobs and come up with deals that not help everyone but just a certain

select group, lawmakers and the airline industry which is an influence in that town. >> the speed with which congress made the decision last week speaks volumes about who the real priorities are for the members of congress and people in washington in general. on the one hand you have gun background check legislationt that took months and months and didn't get the support of the congress but then you have this bill for faa furloughs because members of congress need to travel and business people need to travel and within 24 hours both houses of congress are able to pass the legislation. >> keith wrote washington at its worse and said they had a divided and often dysfunctional congress which originally bassed the sequester take extraordinary measure. the congress did not do anything about the other budget cuts. then you had a white house which

signed the sequester into law give up the greatest piece of leverage and cave on demands for a complete fix. it makes people wonder how serious they are about the budget and getting our spending in order or if this is all about jocking for power and whoever is out of power complains about the budget. >> special interest has taken over. today i flew in from miami to new york. there were no flight delays on the plane. then i had to get on the new jersey transit plane. chris christie didn't want to spend the money on infrastructure. congress is focusing priorities on people who are best targeted, people with the most influence and aren't doing a lot to help

the ordinary people or people who are unemployed. >> does this come as a big revelation? >> what is so disappointing to me is that the democrats did cave on this and gave up all of their leverage to try to negotiate a better deal. >> let me play watt the president said in his weekly address concerning this. >> and maybe because they fly home each weekend the members of congress who insisted on the cuts finally realized that they apply to them, too. congress passed a temporary fix, a band aid. these cuts are scheduled to keep falling across other parts of the government that provide vital services for the american people. we can't keep putting band aides on every cut. >> unless a member on congress has a kid in head start or a relative with meals on wheels this won't get fixed if this theory is to be applied across the board.

>> or unemployment insurance which isn't going to apply to anybody who is sitting in congress right now. this is the bind that the white house finds itself in. you have heard the president complain about band aides over and over again. you have heard jay carney use that same phrasing. are they the one who hold up fixing a transportation measure and not only take the political heat for continued delays but the economic impact of those delays? so you saw this fix that they were a party to. it is hard to see how this all plays out. it is hard to anticipate what the next fixes are going to be. >> thank you both. i want to take you to washington, d.c. where the president is about to make the announcement nominating charlotte mayor anthony foxx to be the next secretary of transportation. >> good afternoon, everybody.

ray lahood has said that being the secretary of transportation is the best job he ever had in public service. and that's fitting because ray may be the best secretary of transportation that the nation has ever had from the day that he was sworn in ray has fought tirelessly to rebuild america's infrastructure, creating new jobs that strengthen the economy and allow us to better compete in the global economy. over the past four years thanks to ray's leadership we built or improved more than 350,000 miles of, road enough to circle the road. we have upgraded more than 6,000 miles of rail, enough to go coast to coast and back. we repaired or replaced more than 20,000 bridges and helped put tens of thousands of construction workers back on the

job. that is all due in no small part to ray lahood's leadership. so every american can thank ray for dedication to make the transportation system stronger and safer. when it comes to his focused attention on the dangers of distracted driving for example it is saving lives. and ray lahood has been a good friend of mine for many years. before he served in my cabinet we served together in congress. he is a republican. i'm a democrat. these days that sometimes keeps folks apart but what always brought ray and i together was a shared belief that those of us who serve in public service owe allegiance not to party but people who elected them to represent them. and it helps that we are from the same state. we both love the state of

illinois. we both get out there on the golf course and we are not that good but we don't take ourselves too seriously. he is a good man and has been an outstanding public servant and a model for the kind of bipartisan approach to governance that i think we need so badly on this town. ray, on a personal level i could not be more grateful to you for your service. [ applause ] now, unfortunately for us and fortunately for them ray is looking forward to spending more time with his wife and their

family and the whole gaggle of grandchildren. and so today i am proud to announce my intent to nominate another impressive leader to carry on the great work at the department of transportation. the mayor of charlotte, my friend from north carolina, mr. anthony foxx. [ applause ] anthony's life reflects the values he learned growing up in west charlotte where he was raised by his single mom and grandparents. his grandmother is here and she informed me that she worked here in the white house in the truman administration. so she is just coming back for a visit. and so the values that they

instilled in them was to take pride in hard work, to take responsibility for your actions, to take care of your community. and over the past 3 1/2 years those values have helped anthony become one of the most effective mayors that charlotte has seen. when anthony became mayor in 2009 charlotte was going through a bruising economic crisis but the city's managed to turn things around. the economy is growing. there are more jobs, more opportunity. if you ask anthony how that happened he will tell you one of the reasons is that charlotte made one of the largest investments in transportation in the city's history. since anthony took office they have broken ground on a new street car project to bring train service to the downtown area. they expanded the airport and extending the city's light rail system. all of that has helped create new jobs and helped charlotte become more attractive to business. i know anthony's experience will

make him an outstanding transportation secretary. he has the respect of his peers, mayors and governors all across the country. and as a consequence i think that he is going to be extraordinarily effective. one thing ray taught me is that establishing personal relationships with mayors and governors and county executives makes all the difference in the world because transportation is one of the things that it's happening on the ground. and the federal government has to be responsive and has to understand what it is like when you are a mayor or a governor or a county executive trying to get these projects up and running which also means we have the potential to continue to stream line our approvals and get rid of some difficulties with permitting that slow projects down because we want to get people back to work and we want to get this country muchbing. i am absolutely confident that

anthony will do an outstanding job. i want to thank his mom and grand mom and lovely wife and two good looking kids for being willing to serve, as well. i hope that the senatet confirms him quickly because we have a lot of work to do. our top priority as a nation is doing everything we can to grow our economy and create new jobs and rebuild the community. one way is to rebuild the infrastructure. in my state of the union address i proposed a fix it first program to put more people to work as soon as possible on the most urgent repairs and make sure taxpayers don't shoulder the entire burden i proposed a partnership. congress has to step up. they need to do it right away. we need to modernize the infrastructure that powers our economy. we need more high speed rail and internet and bridges and tunnels and ports and help us ship

products all around the world stamped with three proud words, made in america. that is how we attract more businesses and create more jobs and stay competitive in this global economy. so to ray lahood and his entire family i want to thank you for doing an extraordinary job. to anthony and his family i want to thank you guys for agreeing to serve and i know that today's announcement is not the biggest thing that anthony's family has going over the next week because tomorrow is anthony's birthday so we're happy that we can kick off the celebration here at the white house. and with that i would like to ask both of them to say a few words starting with our outstanding current secretary of otransportation, mr. ray lahood. [ applause ]

>> thank you. thank you very much. mr. president, your staff told me i only had one minute. and since this is the last time i will be at this podium i'm going to take a little bit more than one minute. i know they won't forgive me but i know you will. there is no way i can ever thank you for the opportunity that you have provided to me to write the final chapter in my book of service. this is it. you're right. this is the best job i have ever had. and if you are not the best person i have ever worked for you are right at the top of the list. you have been extraordinary. and i know that every mayor in america is thrilled today because one of theirs will become the secretary of transportation. and what a message you send around the country.

what you say to every city is that mayors count, cities count. mayor foxx will do a great job. quality transportation choices can mean a better job or better schools for our families across. mayor foxx gets that and i am confident he will do a terrific job. and the other thing, mr. president, is more than four years ago on a very cold day in chicago you kind of rolled the dice on ray lahood. i'm not sure you really knew other than our friendship and that i was a lousy golfer whether i would be a good secretary of transportation. we have been very proud to carry out your vision and very proud to be the 16th secretary of transportation. the president and i did not share a political party as he said i am a republican and he is a democrat. what we did share while we

served in congress from illinois is a friendship, a deep friendship. and that friendship has become much stronger over the last 4 1/2 years. i just want to name four things that i think we have been able to do. there are many more than four. we have put a great team of people together. mayor foxx you are going to inheritt some of the smartest, brightest hard working people at the department of transportation. we have worked hard to carry out the president's agenda. one thing that we are very proud of in 3 1/2 years and the president told us within 30 days of his being sworn in to his first term, raise the cafe standards. by 2025 every car and light truck in america will get 55.55 miles per gallon. it didn't take one vote of congress. it took a little bit of

leadership here and a little bit of leadership at epa and dot. cleaning up the air in america, getting cleaner burning cars. that's a big deal. we also have spent a lot of time on safety. and i guess we will be known for trying to persuade people to put their cell phones and black berries down while they are driving. we are right at the starting gate on this. distracted driving is an epidemic. i hope mayor foxx will continue working on it. i think the crowning glory for the president and he is going to have many legacies but his transportation legacy will be high speed rail in america, bringing passenger rail all over america. let me tell you what i mean by that. i visited 18 countries in the past 4 1/2 years. the common thread throughout every country is a national vision, national leadership,

national commitment. and that's what the president provided over the last 4 1/2 years. what he said to america is we know you want a different kind of transportation. and lincoln started the rail system in america. obama has started high speed rail in america. what a great legacy. thank you. [ applause ] >> so we are proud of that vision, mr. president. thank you for really giving us the encourage to continue to carry on. so obviously it goes without saying when i talked to the president right after his reelection about the fact that i was very conflicted about this job, not about the job but about the fact that i would like to stay. i told him kathie and i have

been married 46 years and she wins out on this one. he said give me your cell number i'm going to call her. i said no, mr. president, i don't want you to do that and hear the arguments she is going to make to you. so i am conflicted about this but it is the right decision for our family. we have been in public service 35 years and we think that we have done it the right way. we have done it in a bipartisan way, in a way that reflects the best values of america. so the final pages of my book of service i think will be remembered for bipartisanship, for serving in one of the most historic administrations in the history of our country. and i am so pleased that the president gave us an opportunity to have a front row seat on watching history and a front row seat on making a little history. and what an opportunity that we will never, ever forget.

and so we leave while they are still applauding which is not always easy in public service. they are not only applauding for me but for president obama and the team of people that he put in place here. that's what they are applauding for. and so we go out while they are applauding and we go out also with the fact that my successor will continue to do a great job representing america, representing the american people, representing president obama and his vision for putting people back to work, for getting the economy going and for continuing what we have tried to start at the department of transportation. it is my pleasure to introduce the 17th secretary of transportation when he is confirmed which is always what we have to say. it is a little thing around here. when he is confirmed he will be the 17th secretary of transportation and he will do a great job, the mayor of

charlotte, anthony foxx. [ applause ] >> thank you. thank you. thank you, mr. president. i am humbled and honored to be your nominee for secretary of transportation. as mayor i know two things. first, over the last four years cities have had no better partners than you, mr. president, and you, mr. secretary ray lahood. you have drawn the appreciation of america's mayors particularly secretary lahood for your astute vision and no nonsense approach. if confirmed i will do my

absolute best to uphold the standards wrou have set. the second thing i know is that there is no such thing as a democratic or republican road, bridge, port, airfield or rail system. we must work together across party lines to enhance this nation's infrastructure. i stand here today with many people to thank most especially my wife, my two children, my mother and my grandmother all of whom are here with us today. i also want to thank the wonderful people of charlotte, the fastest growing area of our country. i know well the opportunities and the challenges of maintaining and improving infrastructure and providing good transportation choices. and throughout my service in charlotte i have worked to use infrastructure to put charlotte and therefore our country on the path of job growth today and

tomorrow. mr. president, i look forward to engaging with members of congress on both sides of the aisle during the confirmation process. if confirmed i will work with you, congress, states, local governments and of course the great team at the u.s. department of otransportation to keep the wheels of our national renewal turning. thank you again for your confidence in me, mr. president. thank you. [ applause ] >> president obama introducing his nominee for transportation secretary, rising star within the democratic party, anthony foxx, the current mayor of charlotte, north carolina. he spoke to the national convention in september. tomorrow he is celebrating his 42nd birthday, the youngest mayor for the city of charlotte. we will have much more on his

nomination and how it changes the scope, if you will, adding diversity. let me get you caught up. out of syria officials are looking for the people responsible for an assassination attempt on the country's prime minister. a bomb exploded near the con voy today. last week's news that syria might be using chemical weapons brought fresh debate on the crisis. >> the worst thing the united states can do right now is put boots on the ground in syria. that would turn the people against us. >> it's not really at a tipping point so i don't think you want to say absolutely not. obviously we don't want to do that unless it is absolutely necessary. >> i would go beyond that. i would say no. we don't need to put boots on the ground but we need to enable their neighbors, the neighbors

of syria to bring some sort of peaceful resolution to this. >> the problem is the president has laid down the line. can't be a dotted line. it can't be anything other than a red line. and more than just syria iran is paying attention to this, north korea is paying attention to this. i think the options aren't huge but some action needs to be taken. joining me now "time" magazine deputy washington bureau chief. let me start wlt information regarding the assassination attempt. we are talking hundreds of thousands of civilian lives and those who are fighting in the war to be counted into the on going violence. >> it is just spiraling to a level that is starting to become reminiscent of iraq. the last number i heard for civilian deaths is 70,000.

it is violence on a horrific scale. you play the quotes from the different members of congress. everyone wants to do something about it. no one enjoys seeing this happen. the options all pretty much stink. >> that may be the remarkable part. it is investigated who, what, when and more details on who was behind the use of the alleged chemical weapons here. there seems to be no clear path ahead. john mccain said this is not the right time to put boots on the ground in syria. that was one of the major concerns last week. option wise it is incredible there is no clear path ahead here. >> there is not. everyone seems to agree that boots on the ground is basically impractical and less than 0 political will for it but also would be counter productive. a muscular american prevention

would make it worse. limited military strikes turn to more complicated options very quickly and some of them sound nice superficially but they get very tricky. any kind of air strikes involving manned aircraft requires taking down missile defense systems. and then finally do we want to arm the rebels? the rebels have a lot of ties to many are characters that we don't like. some have strong ties to al qaeda. we worry about who we might be arming and where the weapons might turn up. there is a range of option that go from kind of not good to really down right terrible. >> what about the response from allies? the president talked about the international community last week as well and the involvement in what happens next with syria. >> the international community is problematic in the sense that if you are talking about the

united nations china and russia don't want us meddling in syria. anything we do that would have international support of the internamsh community would have to go through the communitied nations and it will be hard to get china and russia on board. if you are talking about europeans and western nations that is a different ball of wax. we did see when bill clinton launched a bombing campaign in kosovo in the 19 090s we did it through nato. i don't think this president really wants to -- it's pretty clear he does not want to use military force unless he finds american safety is threatened. now to the latest in the boston bombing case and a new focus on the mother of the

suspects. an official says a russian wire tap caught the mother and the older tsarnaev brother talking about jihad in 2011 but the information was not shared with u.s. intelligence officials until after the attacks. today congressman peter king responded to the apparent intelligence failure. >> if the russians are giving the fbi the information they had regarding the mother and the son and their views on the mother's radicalization and the son's radicalization it would have changed the investigation and caused the fbi to go farther and get to the bottom of this a lot more quickly and possibly head this disaster off. >> michael isikoff joins us now. we have seen a lot of interviews. do we know more about her background now that focus has come down since the news broke? >> reporter: we do know that the

russians clearly had some cause of concern about the mother because they are wire tapping the conversation. one thing i can tell you is that there is some annoyance by the fbi that they didn't get this information before. they got the russian request to investigate tamerlan tsarnaev but didn't get the underlying source of that information, source of concern by the russians. and the russians have somewhat different areas of concern than the fbi. they are primarily concerned about russian security obviously. the russian security service. so the fbi when they initially get this report they don't know that the russians want the information because they think somehow tamerlan tsarnaev might be affiliated or have information about underground groups that are a threat to russia as oopposed to underground terrorist groups that might be a threat to the united states. the fbi is getting more information now from the

russians including information about this wire tap. definitely some frustration that they didn't get this earlier. there are a number of developments today in the investigation just to bring you up to date. the fbi has just in the last couple of hours been at the home of the parents of the wife of tamerlan tsarnaev in rhode island seeking to question her. i am told she and her lawyer just left a little while ago from the home in rhode island where the fbi had been meeting with her. that is another angle that the fbi is pursuing. the fbi is making clear this investigation is far from over. any idea that this investigation is over, that there's just the one living suspect or now charged suspect, dzhokhar tsarnaev is not at all clear

that there may be others we see emerge as potential suspects if not witting accomplices or just unwitting accomplices. >> michael isikoff, thank you very much for the updated information. and closing arguments now underway in the murder trial of philadelphia abortion doctor. we'll have the latest in a live report. plus we discuss why some believe this case should be part of the debate over abortion. when our little girl was born, we got a subaru. it's where she said her first word.

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closing arguments today in the murder trial of dr. kermit gosnell saying he made millions performing late term abortions and allege some of the babies

were born alive. in his closing arguments today mcmahon called the description of gosnel's clinic as -- the prosecution is seeking the death penalty in this case. the case has entered the political arena and reignited the debate over abortion. antiabortion groups criticized the president's addressed planned parenthood fundraiser saying it seems like nothing is enough to make president obama reconsider unyielding support for planned parenthood. joining me now radio talk show host thank you. you have written about this case and talked a lot about it. you recently wrote about the

media coverage. you have some organizations who tried to put the media in the box saying they are ignoring the trial as a bias. what is your take here? >> i don't see it. the trial is now in its seventh week and took until about mid stream until the national media started to kick in. what i think is significant is if there was ignorance of the case from the left there was equal ignorance of the case from the right. it is not as if conservative outlets were here in philadelphia and covering it to the exclusion of more liberal outlets. i think it is illogical to believe that the case is a poor reflection of legal abortion in america because allegedly and of course the jury is about to get the case, this man flouted the law. so he ignored whatever the law was. and frankly i think there is a differing argument which says if restrictions continue to be placed against legal abortion in

the united states you might end up with more doctor gosnell's, not less. >> and your point being there if you have these doctors who are willing to do anything and in this case the allegation from the prosecution is that this man was making money without keeping his oath as a doctor and a provider of abortions that you will end up with people like him who are not police and would be like back alley abortion doctors that we have talked about in our history. >> exactly. the allegations against him are not that he was operating within the confines of row versus wade but that he was ignoring pennsylvania's application of that law. that is where i am making the case and you obviously get it. if the restrictions are put in place there are a half a dozen states moving in this direction you will get individuals performing abortions who don't

care what the law is more like this guy. >> more people should go online and read your latest article on this case. very interesting perspective as always. we will continue to follow this case. reaction still coming in after washington wizards center jason collins has now made history becoming the first openly gay american athlete on a major sports team as an active player to come out. bill clinton has commented. we are going to talk to the "sports illustrated" writer who teamed up with collins to tell his story. i automatically go there. at angie's list, you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare written by people just like you. if you want to save yourself time and avoid a hassle, go to angie's list. at angie's list, you'll find the right person to do the job you need. and you'll find the right person quickly and easily. i'm busy, busy, busy, busy. thank goodness for angie's list. from roofers to plumbers to dentists and more, angie's list -- reviews you can trust.

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since i am i am happy to start the conversation. i wish i wasn't the kid raising his hand saying i'm different. he goes on to write my maternal grandmother was apprehensive about my plans to come out. she grew up in rural louisiana and witnessed the horrors of segregation. she worries that i am opening myself up to prejudice and hatred. i explained my way of coming out is preemptive. joining me now is senior writer for "sports illustrated." there were reports that about four or five nfl players would be coming out. we have seen and heard that with the same sex marriage being in the headlines that someone would. why is jason collins the guy? >> this was definitely in the either. with jason it is personal.

he wants to start a family. he did not do this to be a pioneer. he said i'm 34 years old. i have confronted this and it is time for me personally. i think he thinks the sports world is ready for this, too. >> he says he is as tough as anyone else. he goes on to say he shatters all stereotypes if you are a gay man that you cannot be tough. he talks about knocking a guy out literally that he takes shaq on one-on-one. >> this guy splinters the stereotypes. it is significant he is a basketball player and plays this style. in some ways he is really well suited for this. he knows what comes next and knows this will redefine him and his attitude is bring it on. >> you know this better than anyone that the impact that sports has on our popular culture. two weeks ago we mark the 66th anniversary of jackie robinson

crossing the color barrier. this young man will be remembered, as well, for making history. what about this notion that sports is not ready? you have the the average guy is 22 or 23 years old average age in that league. will he be accepted or rejected? >> i think that is a whole misdirection. will he effect the locker room? this is a young generation. a lot of them have gay family members. i think we talk about the cultural shift and starting with young players. as you said this is a young league. whether or not this is going to go over well with all fans -- >> nothing goes over completely. >> he has incredible support. david stern sent out a heart felt message, as well. what stands out is congressman joe kennedy because they have a great relationship. in the piece collins talks about telling him. >> they were called room mates.

he saw joe kennedy. he said this effects me. i feel very strongly about this and i don't want to be in this march. this july they will march together in boston. >> i have to bring up former president bill clinton. he says i know jason collins. the former president also sending out his support to this young man today. >> a lot of support and it came out very fast. this is somebody who is really well positioned to take on this role. the fact that he is so connected is just another round of this. >> check it out in "sports illustrated." he may be popping up in one of the morning programs soon. victims of superstorm sandy beginning to put communities back together six months after the hurricane devastated parts of new york and new jersey. we will show you pictures then and now and questions over the slow recovery effort. ♪

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six months after sandy this video is what it looked like right after the superstorm sandy hit six months ago. many parts of new jersey things have not changed much. let me show you some of what is happening now. let me go to what is happening now. still recovering. i wanted to show this image because we can linger on the six month video. the comparison is what it looks like now. this is a sad image behind you. >> reporter: it is very sad particularly if you own these homes. the owner of this particular house hasn't been on his second floor in six months. the furniture you see in the front of the house does not belong to him. there used to be a sea wall here about three feet high. you have no idea it existed. a portion of it went racing through his house, completely destroyed the basement. he is trying to get things back together but he says it is a

very slow a heavy lift for him. just listen. >> it's uncertain how -- what is going to happen next because most of the trades people and the architects, they are so busy with their regular work and the recovery all over the city. >> reporter: the point is that so many people are trying to get their lives and homes back together it is hard to get people to work on these properties. in addition to that they are not sure exactly what the building code is going to be, whether or not he will have to raise this house up in order to meet new codes if it will be raised up or placed on stilts. good news for his family they had flood insurance and home insurance. he says he has received about 2/3 of the money from his flood insurance. look at his house. it is far from being able for him to go back into it. >> we know things can't happen overnight especially when it is

that devastating but it is a surprise. six months later for a lot of people to see what it looks like in parts of new jersey and new york. >> reporter: absolutely. so many people devastated. it is a real patchwork. one home here, some folks are in that home. and some businesses are up and operating, the banks, the delis, the grocery stores. the good news is you are able to go there for business but not here. homes are not operating. >> thank you very much for bringing us the latest details. of course, we will continue to follow the struggles of the people in new york and new jersey. that does it for this edition of "news nation." "the cycle" is up next.

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let's get a recap, merv. [ merv ] thanks, other merv. mr. clean magic eraser extra power was three times faster on permanent marker. elsewhere against dirt, it was a sweep, with scuffed sports equipment... had it coming. grungy phones... oh! super dirty! and grimy car rims... wow! that really works! ...all taking losses. it looks like mr. clean has won everything. the cleaning games are finished? and so are we. okay, but i just took a mortgage out on the cabinet. [ male announcer ] clean more, work less, with the mr. clean magic eraser extra power. right now on "the cycle" the outspoken mom of the boston bombing suspect has cancelled her trip to the states. >> six months after sandy we are back on the coast with the story

of one man who turned his loss to a gain. nearly three years after his death the latest chapter in the michael jackson legal saga begins. today the biggest story in the nba is happening off the court. all of that plus "the cycle" was invited to the white house correspondents dinner and we have pictures to prove it. this hour marks two weeks after the boston bombings. the investigation is focusing on the suspect's mother. the mom is still in russia after changing travel plans and she is not coming to the u.s. her press conference has turned heated. she is no terrorist. tsarnaev